The Problem with Masters
by Flatpickluvr
Summary: This story explores the complex, fractured working relationship between House, Cuddy and Masters.  It's told from Masters' and Taub's points of view.  If you're a Huddy or if you like Masters, you'll want to skip this story.


**A/N – I have been struggling for some time to put into words exactly why Masters doesn't belong on the team. I think I'm able to do that now. I also like the way Taub's character has developed lately. I decided to write the story from Masters' and Taub's POVs. I don't own any of the characters. They're property of NBC Universal, Bad Hat Harry Productions, Heel and Toe Films, Shore Z Productions, and any other powers that be. As usual, this is not for profit; just for fun. **

"Yeah, you heard me right. You're the main reason I'm on the stuff."

Masters tried to look stunned, shocked even, quivering her chin almost to the point of actually crying, when House said that to her.

He's a department head! Sure, he's crazy, but even he should know that it's unethical to prescribe care for patients while under the influence of narcotics.

All she had done was ask him not to take the pills in front of her.

He did it anyway.

She had already called Cuddy so many times on account of House that she was beginning to look to everyone else like the boy who cried wolf.

She had run back and forth to Cuddy's office so many times on account of House that the path from the diagnostics office to Cuddy's was worn bare. Literally. The wax shine was actually gone from the floor because she'd worn that pathway down so much.

In reality, she wasn't stunned, shocked or upset. She was angry for the umpteenth time. Angry that her boss, who was supposed to set a good example for her, did something she didn't agree with. Again. It really didn't matter that there wasn't anything legally, morally or ethically wrong with him taking a prescribed pain medication. She was all about following rules and "doing the right thing". To Masters, those two principles always ran parallel to each other. They never intersected. The difference between Masters and House was that House knew that breaking rules was sometimes necessary in order to do "the right thing". Masters believed that rule breaking was never Ok under any circumstance. House broke rules, sometimes flagrantly, if he thought it was in the best interest of the patient. Masters thought that sometimes he deliberately broke rules in front of her just to flaunt the fact that he could, to rub her face in it. Masters might claim from time to time that she could have "empathy" for House because of the breakup, but the fact that he flaunted his disrespect for rules in her face was the reason why she could not respect him.

When she called the New Jersey State medical board's substance abuse hotline, nobody was surprised, least of all House.

Taub cornered her in the hallway outside the women's bathroom, just as she had finished her call.

He'd had enough of her. Wilson's office door was open. Taub saw that and knew that not only would Wilson hear, he'd probably also tell House and feel compelled to act upon what Taub was about to say. Taub had reached his limit with Masters and she needed to go.

"You know what bugs me about you? I can't figure you out. I can't figure out if you just have a bug up your butt about everyone here or if you really can't accept the fact that this team is all about doing whatever it takes to diagnose the patient, even if it means doing things you don't like. Either way, you're not a team player, but I think the problem is the latter. I know House didn't hire you; Cuddy did. And I know Cuddy forced him to keep you on when he didn't want to. I know House is not anyone's idea of a pleasant boss to work for but you applied for this position! You wanted it, you got Cuddy to shoehorn you in here, and now, baby throws temper tantrums every time she can't get her way. You can quit any time you want but you won't. So you're here, but that doesn't mean we all have to play with you anymore. You're not an MD. You don't know anything about the process of getting or maintaining professional licensure. It's not illegal, immoral or unethical for a physician, who's also a patient, to take prescribed medication at work in front of other people, but it is both immoral AND unethical for a healthcare provider to flirt with a patient like you flirted with our bull rider. If you want Foreman, Chase and me to work with you, then shut up and be a team player."

Masters adopted her stunned look again, feigning shock, and even managed to force a few tears to her eyes. "Don't speak to me like that! I have every right to report an impaired physician! You're just trying to cover up for him, like you always do. You're afraid of him. I'm not."

Taub hissed under his breath at her, "Look, idiot! You're so smart, right? I know the difference between flirting with other adults and flirting with patients. Do you know the difference between 'normal' and 'impaired'? Do I have to spell it out for you? Go ahead and cry while I explain the word's meaning to you. As a verb, 'impair' means 'to make or cause to become worse; weakened.' Someone who is taking prescribed pain medication is not necessarily impaired. I don't know where you got the mistaken idea that House is breaking a rule simply because he's taking a prescribed pain medication. But more importantly, you knew from the very beginning that pushing the envelope, sometimes breaking rules, is within the scope of what we do if we have to in order to be part of this team and achieve our end goal of making the correct diagnosis. Maybe we should run a DDX on you. Here's how this is going to play out. You filed a false report with the licensing board. It's going to be wiped off his record when they investigate and find nothing wrong. You, on the other hand, having filed a false report, may find that will follow you around the rest of your professional life. House is never going to forget, or let you forget either, that you filed a false report on him. For being so smart, you sure are dumb." Taub walked away.

Masters stomped along the well-worn path from Diagnostics to Cuddy's office.

"What is it now?" Cuddy muttered to herself and cringed when she saw Masters storm into her outer office.

"What did House do now?" she asked Masters.

"I don't trust his judgment. Did you know he's taking Vicodin?"

Cuddy sighed and buried her head in her hands.

"Yes."

"Well, what are you going to do about it?" Masters asked insistently.

"Nothing. If he's impaired, I'll deal with it. He's not. Leave it alone."

"You mean you're not going to do anything?" Masters was incredulous.

Wilson stormed in at that moment. _Oh, goody. Let's invite a few more people to this party,_ thought Cuddy. She rolled her eyes because she knew what he was going to say.

"Fire her."

"I'm not going to fire her. It's House's department. He decides who stays and who goes."

"He hasn't been allowed to run his department independent of you for years. You hired her. It's your responsibility to fire her. He won't because you hired her and you forced him to keep her on. You know med students with no internal medicine experience have no business in a specialty department. You screwed up."

"Stop talking about me like I'm not here!" Masters cried.

"Then leave, and you won't be," House roared from outside Cuddy's doorway.

"Oh God, what a train wreck," Cuddy muttered out loud.

"Last I checked, MY name was on my office door. It's MY department. I've fired her fourteen thousand times over and she won't go away. Me firing her never means anything because Wilson's right. You hired her. It's your mess. You need to clean it up. Fire her."

"Oh God," Cuddy repeated, with her head in her hands.

"Fire her. After you hired her behind my back, you handed me the completed paperwork. It has your signature on it. It is your mess, and you need to undo it. I'm not leaving this office until you fire her or me. One or the other."

"House, I can't just fire her because you want her fired."

"No, but insubordination is a reason for termination."

"Insubordination?" Cuddy asked, incredulous, almost to the point of laughing. "If I fired everyone who was insubordinate, you'd have been the first on the chopping block years ago."

"Then you might want to look into the consequences of filing a false report with the medical board. You might also want to look into the consequences of an unlicensed person dispensing medications to patients in your hospital. "

Masters stared daggers at House. "But you told me to…"

"Uh uh. I said the homeless serial killer needed to get Clozapine. I never told you to give it. I never told you to give him the prednisone, either. I told you and Taub to do it. Actually, hospital policy governs which licensed people are allowed to give medications. You're not licensed. Ergo, you're fired."

Cuddy stared at him slack-jawed. "Is this true?" she said, looking at Masters. "Have you been giving medications to patients?"

House flipped his phone open, called Taub and put him on speakerphone. "You hear this?" House asked.

"Yeah. She was alone with serial killer whoever. When I came down the hallway, she walked out of the patient room and told me she gave the Clozapine."

Seeing the finish line and victory lane in front of him, House announced, "Since Cuddy won't undo the mess she created, I'm gonna have to do something I'm sure I'm going to have to pay for in the end. First of all, you're calling the state medical board right now. In this office, in front of all these witnesses. You're going to tell them you filed a false report on me. Then you're going home. You'll be getting a phone call from me after you get home."

_Is he bluffing? Should I call his bluff?_ "I'm not calling them back. I know what I saw. And Foreman told me you were a Vicodin addict. You said so yourself. 'Once an addict, always an addict'."

Everyone in the room stared at Masters. Their faces could not disguise what they were thinking. _Is she really this idiotic? Or is she a glutton for punishment? Does she know she's about to become unhireable in most of the prestigious internships?_

Cuddy stepped in, realizing that there was only one way out of this miasma. She was going to have to help fix the mess she created and admit she was wrong. "Martha, you were told specifically what your scope of responsibility was when I hired you. I know, because I told you myself, and it's in your job description. I had to write a job description specifically for you because it had to be tailored to the fact that you're not licensed. You were told specifically that you are not allowed to administer medications. You were told that you were not allowed to perform invasive procedures, even under the supervision of an experienced MD. I know you have been performing invasive procedures."

"But he told me…." sputtered Masters.

"I thought you had such a promising future here. I let that blind me. Your boss was right to begin with. I should have hired you, but not for his department. I should have hired you in the internal medicine department for one of their externship positions. It was my mistake, just like several other big ones I've made recently. This isn't Dr. House's mistake. It's mine." Cuddy said, eyeing House. "I'm supporting his decision to fire you. I'm sorry, but you violated the terms of your job description. If you were anyone else, House would have fired you permanently a long time ago and never rehired you. You are fired, but you are not to leave this office until you call the state medical board and retract your allegation against Dr. House."

"You can't force me to do that. You can fire me, but you can't force me to retract my accusation. I know what I saw, and I'll stand by that," Masters tried one last stand.

"I can pick up this phone and suddenly you'll become unhireable in any prestigious internship in this country. You'll retract your allegation if you don't want to wind up graduating from medical school with no hope of an internship anywhere," Cuddy return fired. "Maybe you didn't think about this when you called the medical board, but when you file an allegation like that, the investigator will need proof. There won't be any, because there isn't any now and there never was."

With no options left, Masters made one solemn phone call to the state medical board.

"Who knew the witch had a backbone?" House cracked under his breath, meant for his and Wilson's ears alone.

Wilson climbed on the back of House's Segway. The Segway with its two-man crew came frighteningly close to toppling over as House sharply wheeled it around toward Cuddy's door. With a flourish, House looked over his shoulder at Cuddy and said "Baby steps, Cuddy. Baby steps."


End file.
